Fibromyalgia Community

I have a lot of pain in my feet from sleeping, of all things. If my feet touch the bed, or the blanket lays across my feet, I wake up with my feet hurting like crazy! I have learned to sleep with my feet hanging off the end of the bed so that NOTHING touches them all night. I tried everything else, and this is the only thing that has helped me. I don't know if this will help you or not, but... Good Luck!

Good Morning,

I have had foot pain and toe pain on and off. I am meticulous with my feet...

First I would go get a pedicure...when they massage, pay attention to the spots that are bothersome, it used to be ALL the areas on the foot chart were in trouble.

In a good health spa ($$$$) it can cost alot for this assessment, but you can do it on your own.

I did a few foot massages and then as I have mentioned many a time, I change my shoes to different ones everyday.. no more dollar store specials...only good shoes.

The Earth Shoes from Wallmart are good too, they have a good arch in them. It is exercise for the feet to change shoes, you walk just a bit different.

Warm your feet...you know how we use heat to help us....well when my sister found all these *trigger points in my feet and it hurt so much.....she said to break them up. SHE did it with massage...then I did it with what I just said.

I used to feel like I was walking on glass....used to feel like the ankles were stiff and mobility was limited. The toes burn, still even now and then and I know the leg muscles are pushing on a nerve and I flex the leg muscles to move them around.

I could be driving in the car and wa-la...the toes start....
So massaging from the foot to the knee area is good too.

Heck, what do you have to lose? Just know the first time the feet are worked on it hurts......but the next is so much better....and better...and better...

(When my sis returned a year later she only found ONE spot in trouble....I was amazed and so proud that I had made a difference in myself) Good luck. This takes perseverance and want............

I am right there with ya though...Hugs, Nancy B

Thank you for responding. I too have a lot of pain in the nighttime. One of the diagnoses was plantar fasciitis, heel pain and the soles of my feet. Mainly my right foot. I tried lotions and socks , and keep waking up reapplying the lotion during the night. In the AM, lots of times my heels are burning and look real red. There are exercises for this. I do them, but I guess I should do them more. I saw them online. Don't know if this would help your nighttime pain. Was told to wear shoes in the house by a new podiatrist, with good support. Usually wear moccasins. But hurts the top of my feet and toes. Sooo!! Have to see him again for x-rays in mid-Jan. So I hope he sees something to help diagnose and treat. Again, thanks and hope what I said above helps you. Good luck to you too!

Got another reply, but yours might be closer to my problem. I think that the other fibroer might have plantar fasciitis. Not sure, but that's one of my diagnoses. Problem with wearing shoes, like I related to other person is, I have pain on top of my feet. I can wear good shoes, which I do outside anyway. My new podiatrist wants me to wear shoes (not my moccasins) inside my home all day. I'm trying, but the shoe touching my feet hurts, and my toes too. I will start warm soaks more. I was doing them, but was inconsistent. I get sharp pain in my toes and top of feet if I massage too much. So maybe I should do so lightly. Am to return to new podiatris in mid-Jan. for x-rays. Hope something comes of this, for diagnosis and treatment. Thank you for your support. I'm glad to see this site. Don't feel quite so alone. Again, thanks. Hope to hear from you again.Hugs to you, too

I read something just today about a basketball coach having the same thing, but I cannot find the article.

What he had was Gout.

Hope this helps,
Lydia

Hello,

Feet pain is common in FM. Heel pain, arch pain, toe pain, entire foot pain...all are frequently reported to me. Different causes of fibro-related feet pain include:

1. Plantar fasciitis. Usu arch and heel pain, stabbing, worse in morning when first step out of bed and put weight on feet. Sometimes a heel spur is present. Treatments include NSAID's, topical/compounded meds applied locally, physical therapy, stretches, arch wrapping, inserts/orthotics, injections, proper footwear, etc.

2. Metatarsalgia. Toe box/distal foot pain, may include soft tissue pain (tendon, ligament, myofascial, sprain/strain) Treatments similar to above.

3. Chronic sprain/strain/myofacial pain/tendinitis. FM makes us more vulnerable to these problems esp if we have flat feet or high arches, and FM makes "mild" versions of these problems much more painful and chronic. Anyone who is on her/his feet for prolonged periods or wears improper shoes are more prone to these pains. We try to ID the source(s) of pain and focus the treatments on those problem areas.

4. Feet neuralgia. Burning numbness, due to hypersensitive nerves in feet from FM. Meds that treat nerve pain can be used, in addition to anything that works. Sometimes nerve entrapments or pinched nerves in the feet can occur such as tarsal tunnel syndrom. Or referred nerve pain to the foot from the back from a pinched nerve root can be present. These are NOT part of FM but need to be considered whenever there is "nerve" pain in the foot.

Hope this helps clarify fibro foot flaws!

Dr. P

I also have fibro and have had two year long bouts with pf, before the fibro began. I believe I am starting to have the problems again. It seems, Dr., that my symptoms move from joint to joint to joint. I go to an awesome chiropractor weekly but am needing more treatment because of the rain. Springtime is awful for me. I have a very hard time believing that this disease does not cause longterm damage to the joints. I know you listed fibro as a syndrome but for me this is a disabeling disease. I have recently found out that all of the female decendants of my paternal grandmother have been diagnosed with fibro, lupus, ibs, chrones and various other rhuematic problems. We all test negative for RA but many have the swollen hand and feet joints. One of my cousins died with her hands swollen and turned like an apes. I am wondering if we all have something undiagnosed and the fibro and etc. are symptoms of something bigger. What do you think?

Hi Linda and welcome to WebMD,

I encourage you to start a new discussion and address it to Dr. Pellegrino so it can more easily be found and responded to.

To do that, hold your cursor over the orange Post Now button on the upper right and choose 'Discussion' from the drop down menu which appears. Fill in the subject line and body of the message (you can ignore the poll part if you want) and Submit.

I too have plantar fascitis. Yes you need proper shoes with good arch supports. Orthotics were made by filipis/wright med supply and new shoes. I had physical therapy: exercises and massages and stretching-breaking up of fibrinous tissues. I wore and am again wearing foot braces/splints at night. I had several lidocaine-cortisone shots into the painful trigger spots. these are all helping me. I know how important the proper shoes and orthotics are now because I lost myshoes and of course the orthotics were in the shoes. The heel and arch pain has returned with a vengeance! However about 2-3 yrs ago my feet hurt so bad that I had to crawl to the BR at night. I was changed from neurontin to lyrica and all I can say is Thank you God for providing me with some relief finally! My internist says that the feet aren't on the chart for fybromyalgia tenderpoints etc. I told him not to get too close to my feet or he would learn first hand about tender points. Of course we get along well and thought it was funny...little did he know I was serious!

Dr. Mark Pellegrino, MD
Thank you so much for your response about foot pain and Fibromyalgia. I guess it helps to have some validation of our claims of increased foot and or toe pain and the association to FM. So often, for over 30 yrs I have heard that my symptoms had to be due to: stress; being a new mom; to it was imagined symptoms. That as a nurse I knew a little too much and thought I was catching everything I had read about or studied.

As you stated, "Feet pain is common in FM. Heel pain, arch pain, toe pain, entire foot pain...all are frequently reported to me." " FM makes us more vulnerable to these problems esp if we have flat feet or high arches, and FM makes "mild" versions of these problems much more painful and chronic.
Feet neuralgia. Burning numbness, due to hypersensitive nerves in feet from FM. Meds that treat nerve pain can be used, in addition to anything that works"
No wonder Lyrica helped alot with my foot pain, esp. the neuralgia type of pain. Of course with plantar fasc. there isn't or hasn't been a single magic pill to help but a comination of all that you stated. ...But why oh why did I have to wait so long to finally hear that this isn't imagined pain. I can loudly state that I surely would not have "imagined" or "perceived" the pain in my feet at a "9 - 15" on a 0 - 10 pain chart!